Do most of you have pensions????

[dvcgirl]

My husband worked at the same company for 33 years...went into work at 6:00 a.m. one day and by 9:00 a.m., he was out of a job. Two weeks later, the company declared bankruptcy. DH was supposed to received a pension of around $1700.00 a month and filed for it immediately since he was over 55 and had over 30 years in the plan. We thought that we had it made.

We soon found out that the company had underfunded the pension by $145 million and since they went bankrupt, no more contributions would be going in. Fast forward, the pension was turned over to the PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Company) and his benefit was reduced by 50% and there is no guarantee as to how long the pension will last since the PBGC is constantly getting company's pension plans (especially the airlines) so we could get the pension for 1 year or 5 years and that could be it.

Luckily, we had a 401(K) and I have a 403(B) plus Roth IRA's and regular IRA's to cushion the blow but it is just a shame what these companies are allowed to do to their employees. His plan was a defined benefit plan not a cash balance plan so there was no way that we could take a lump sum. My plan at work is a cash balance so I'll take my money and run and invest it myself.

Ugh....that just sucks. There's no other way to put it. I'm sorry that you're going through that. I just think that is so incredibly unfair. And you are right, we are seeing just the beginning of this. There was a very good article on cnn.money called "America's Pension Time Bomb". I'll post the link below. The kind of thing that you and your DH are experiencing is beginning to unravel all over the country, and the PBGC is so underfunded it's pathetic. 30 cents on the dollar is what many retirees see once their pension fund ends up there. It's postively criminal to employ someone for 30+ years, make all kinds of promises to them and then pull out the rug from under them. Here's the link to that article...

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/13/news/economy/pension_fortune/index.htm

 

[arminnie]

I worked in Silicon Valley (well the very Northern tip of it) where pensions are rare. My company did have a pension plus a fabulous 401K match (4:1) because as a non-public company we were unable to offer stock option like most of the other companies did.

I officially retired on 3/31 of this year. I'm taking a lump sum distribution of my retirement for several reasons. One - the interest rates are so low right now that it makes the lump sum bigger. But more importantly that money is mine as of now. I can roll it into an IRA. I do not need to touch it for a few more years. I don't have to worry about the company obliterating my pension in 20 years (or less).

I know a monthly benefit would be for the rest of my life, but if I died next year my heirs would get nothing. If I only take out 3 or 4% a year and do not invest it foolishly it should last forever, and then have some left.

So I have a pension, but I do not intend to take it as a monthly income.

 

[Chicago526]

Half 'n' half. DH has a pension through his company (run by the Union, so hopefully it's being funded properly since the fox isn't guarding this particular hen house) but they won't tell us the details of it until he qualifies for the pension, he has to be there 5 years before he qualifies. Then they'll send him a packet of info and we can do much better planing from there (and investigate the pension and see if we can tell how well funded it is).

I get a 401k. They do a 100% match for the first 3% I contribute, plus I get another 8% of my yearly gross pay in years the company meets it's budget goals, which has been every year I've worked here (privately, I think the company intends to pay this no matter what unless we are litteraly fighting for survival, it's a good company run by good people, but that's just a guess). I'm fully vested now (you're 100% after 5 years). Right now I only put in the 3% to get the full match, but I'll be uping that next month when I get my raise. I'll do that again next year, and keep doing so (if all goes well) until I max it out. As far as I'm concerend, you can't have too much money to retire with! You can always figure out a way to spend it!